biology

Lesser honeyguide

Lesser honeyguide is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lesser honeyguide rather than just read about it. In short: The lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor) is a species of bird in the family Indicatoridae that is widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. Like other honeyguides, it is a brood parasite that lays eggs most commonly in the nests of African barbets, but will also occasionally use the nests of other birds as well, such as starlings and woodpeckers.

Key takeaways

Lesser honeyguide belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lesser honeyguide to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lesser honeyguide from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor) is a species of bird in the family Indicatoridae that is widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. Like other honeyguides, it is a brood parasite that lays eggs most commonly in the nests of African barbets, but will also occasionally use the nests of other birds as well, such as starlings and woodpeckers.

Taxonomy The lesser honeyguide was formally described in 1815 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens under the binomial name Indicator minor. Stephens based his account on "Le petit indicator" that had been described and illustrated in 1806 by the French naturalist François Levaillant based on specimens collected near the Swartkops River in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Eight subspecies are recognised:

I. m. conirostris (Cassin, 1856) – Nigeria to west Kenya, DR Congo and west Angola I. m. senegalensis Neumann, 1908 – Senegal and Gambia to north Cameroon, Chad and west Sudan I. m. riggenbachi Zedlitz, 1915 – central Cameroon to southwest Sudan and west Uganda I. m. diadematus Rüppell, 1837 – central Sudan, Ethiopia and north Somalia I. m. teitensis Neumann, 1900 – southeast Sudan and Somalia to Zimbabwe and central Mozambique I. m. damarensis (Roberts, 1928) – south Angola to central Namibia I. m. minor Stephens, 1815 – south Namibia, south Botswana and south Mozambique to South Africa

Range The lesser honeyguide is widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa.

Gallery

References

External links Lesser honeyguide - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. YouTube Video: lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lesser honeyguide

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lesser honeyguide claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lesser honeyguide before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lesser honeyguide ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lesser honeyguide

In research: Lesser honeyguide appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lesser honeyguide in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lesser honeyguide is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1815, Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa, IUCN Red List least concern species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lesser honeyguide outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lesser honeyguide in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lesser honeyguide means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lesser honeyguide out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lesser honeyguide in simple terms?

Why does Lesser honeyguide matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lesser honeyguide?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lesser honeyguide.